


the kippen household 🌠 2/12

by fredastaire



Series: ⭐ 12 days of tyrus ⭐ [2]
Category: Andi Mack (TV)
Genre: 12 Days of Tyrus, M/M, NEXT ONE IS FROM CYRUS' PERSPECTIVE I SWEAR, cyrus lowkey does a lookback because i make impulsive desicions, day two christmas w the kippens, kippen siblings cuz duh, second half is wholesome kippen family presents + tyrus is there somewhere, the first half of this is wholesome kippen family bonding, tj comes out kinda but it's anticlimactic cuz it's the holiday season and i want everyone to be OK
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-17
Updated: 2018-12-17
Packaged: 2019-09-21 09:07:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,564
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17040869
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fredastaire/pseuds/fredastaire
Summary: The Kippen twins set up their Christmas tree with their father; Cyrus gives TJ a gift.





	the kippen household 🌠 2/12

**Author's Note:**

> i imagine this as a TV show about the kippen family, because if disney wont do it then i will

It was a quiet evening in the Kippen household, which was  _ not _ a sentence you could hear often, because TJ and Amber were almost always talking, blasting music, or in general being  _ loud _ . It was a bit unnerving, to be honest, but the twins were both silently anticipating something. TJ couldn’t remember the last time he had thought this clearly. There was a jittery excitement in the air. He was staring at his ceiling, remembering something from a long time ago. Then the doorbell rang, and he just about fell off his twin bed. He swung his legs over the side, and went to open the front door.

 

He was tackled by his father immediately. “Tee! My boy, my son!”

 

“Are you trying to convince someone?” TJ asked, his voice muffled by his father’s coat. His father pulled away from the hug to see that TJ was smiling, despite his words, and gave him a pat on the shoulder.

 

“Where’s your sister? Today is the first day of my Christmas break, you know,” his father shuffled to take off his coat and shoes.

 

“I know. It’s only everything you’ve talked about for the past month.” TJ said, turning around to face the rest of the house and call for his sister. “Amber?”

 

“I’m coming! I’m coming, I heard him come in.” Amber called back. Knowing her, she was either hard at work or hard at socializing. She opened the door to her room, and looked calm before practically throwing herself at their father.

 

They hugged tightly as TJ leaned against the kitchen island, sighing. Christmas was finally starting. They had three days before their father was completely swamped by work again. And they probably weren’t going to have a single quiet evening for any of those three days.

 

“Okay, first things first, I  _ know _ neither of you have put up the tree,” his father said, looking around the living room.

 

“No, it’s more fun when we all do it together.” Amber said, shrugging.

 

They had a plastic tree that they put up each year (because their father wasn’t always able to buy a living one), and it had become something of a ritual to watch random Christmas movies while setting it up. TJ went to grab the box of its disassembled pieces, and found it in the back of their cleaning closet. He brought it out to the living room, where Amber had brought the decorations and their father was looking for the  _ worst _ Christmas movies.

 

“The Santa Clause 3 has pretty low ratings,” their dad said, shuffling through Netflix.

 

“There was a Santa Clause  _ 2 _ ?” Amber asked, sounding miffed.

 

“Yeah, it’s a trilogy.” TJ said, placing the box of disassembled tree on the left side of their couch, the side that faced the door, deciding that was where they should put it that year.

 

“Why are you okay with that?” Amber asked, brushing her knees off (they’d gotten dust on them). She sat next to her brother and tilted the box over, taking the parts out.

 

“I’ve seen the first two. With Cyrus. He’s up for watching  _ any _ movie, but even he has a limit.” TJ said, taking out the tree stand and pushing the box away. In the background, they heard the movie start playing, and they shared a grin. This was Christmas as they knew it. This was  _ family  _ as they knew it.

 

Their dad joined them, and TJ slid the first bunch of leaves into the stand, and soon they were stacking leaves on top of each other, and spreading them out so it looked like an actual tree. TJ thought being able to build a Christmas tree in under 10 minutes (he and Amber had competed against each other to see who could build it faster one year) was one of his best qualities.

 

“How are your friends doing?” Their dad asked, while  Amber was starting to dump decorations on the floor and TJ was grinning at the TV screen. Both siblings turned their gazes away from their distractions and glanced at each other. A  _ lot _ of friend drama had happened in the past year that their father didn’t know about it. Simultaneously, after making eye contact, they both burst out laughing.

 

“What? What’s funny?” Mr. Kippen asked, holding a large bunch of leaves.

 

“It’s just that.. Well, our friends have been  _ doing _ a lot.” Amber said, shrugging.

 

“Are they… alright, though?”

 

“Of course, Dad.” TJ smiled.

 

“Good to hear, good to hear. TJ, any girls?”

 

TJ looked at him over the top of the mass of leaves that couldn’t be called a Christmas tree yet. “I don’t know, you tell me.”

 

His dad’s eyebrows shot up so high they could have straight up leapt off his face. “Ah, avoiding the question. Now _ that’s _ interesting.”

 

Amber and TJ shared another glance as their father added the next bunch of leaves, humming thoughtfully. “Do you have a crush?”

 

Amber dragged the Christmas lights to TJ’s side of the tree, draping them over his shoulders. TJ didn’t have any interest in lying to his Dad, so he just shrugged. “Yeah. I guess.” _ I guess _ was an understatement, but no one really had to know that.

 

“Girl or guy?”

 

TJ almost spluttered. He was going straight for the kill. _Everyone_ in the room knew what was happening now, not just Amber and TJ. TJ grabbed the last bunch of leaves and put it right on top of the tree. There was a yell from the TV, but everyone else was silent. “Guy,” he mumbled.

 

His father clasped his shoulder, grinning. “Tell me about ‘im. Do I know him? Is he that kid who likes all the movies?”

 

TJ slowly started to smile again, looking up at his dad. It was hardly looking up anymore, because he was growing. He took the lights that Amber had put around his neck and started to put them over the tree. His sister and Dad joined in and added their own things, as always. Amber put a necklace that said TOMORROW on the tree, and their Dad put a keychain with a picture of Jennifer Lawrence on it. TJ fished around in his room for a few minutes, and then came out with a Stitch plushie.

 

He hung the plushie near the top of the tree, where a star sat. Amber nodded, approvingly. “‘Ohana’ means family,” she said, in a bad Stitch impression.

 

His dad laid a hand on TJ’s head. “And family means nobody gets left behind.”

 

“God, that’s so cheesy.”

* * *

 

On Christmas morning, the air in the Kippen household was electric. TJ just lay in bed for a moment, listening to the muffled sound of Aretha Franklin's voice singing Joy to the World. Then he flipped his covers over, stood up, and pulled a hooded Christmas sweater over his head. 

Downstairs, Amber was sat on a barstool in front of their kitchen island, mouthing the words to the song and nodding her head. They didn't have a dining room table, there were three bar stools for three members of a family. And a couch if anyone felt fancy. 

TJ slipped onto one of said barstools, and watched tiredly, head held up by his arm, as his dad made French toast for the fourth year in a row (TJ and Amber still hadn't gotten tired of it).

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas started playing, and the smell of French toast began to waft through the house. TJ lifted his head, feeling more alert now, and smiling as Amber climbed onto the island and started singing along. She was only technically allowed on the island on Christmas, but, being someone who loved a stage, TJ found her sitting there humming more than a few times when their dad was out, but it seemed like a useless rule anyway. 

Amber was finally ushered off the island when their dad brought over three warm plates with French toast on them. He slid two of them across the island to the twins, and carried one to the other side of it, where he sat on the right-most barstool and started to eat almost immediately. The siblings both smiled, and they ate in the blissful company of the one Christmas CD their father owned. 

They washed their plates dutifully, and then plopped down on the couch. There were gifts under the tree from and for each person. Some of Amber's gifts were from friends who'd given her things beforehand to unwrap on Christmas. TJ didn't really expect anything like that from his friends, and he wasn't really one for sentimentals. He just loved the sweet air and the faded, classic songs that came with Christmas, and that's why he was so invested in the holliday. 

Before addressing the presents in the rom, the Kippen family liked to sit down and tell stories. They missed each others' lives a lot. Not TJ to Amber, or vice versa, but rather, the twins didn't know much about their father's life at work, and he didn't know much about their lives.. well, period. So, they had settled down, ready to hear about Mr. Kippen's local office cat, Sharon, when the doorbell rang. 

They glanced around at each other, and when they were all met with equally confused expressions, TJ raised his hand. "I'll go see who it is," he said, begrudgingly.

He stood up, and swung the front door open. He was met face-to-face with Cyrus Goodman holding an average sized box, wrapped. 

"Hi, TJ." Cyrus grinned, sheepishly.

“Hi,” he said, tilting his head at the box. “What’s up?”

“Well, I wanted to stop by and bring you this.” Cyrus held out the box in front of him. “I do this with all my friends on Christmas morning. I can’t stick around to watch them unwrap their things, usually, but I like to at least deliver it personally.”

TJ took the box from him and held it to his chest. It was lighter than it looked, which made him feel good, knowing that Cyrus hadn’t spent his money on something big. He didn’t say anything, just looked at him, smiling. Cyrus  _ didn’t _ have to go through that much trouble for his friends, but he did, because he wanted to make sure they knew that he cared about the. “Thank you,” he said, trying to think of something else to say. “You’re so nice.” 

Cyrus smiled back. “And so are you.” 

Cyrus sounded sincere when he said it, and TJ liked to think that Cyrus wouldn’t lie to him, but TJ couldn’t remember the last time  _ he’d  _ done something like personally deliver Christmas presents to each of his friends. He just blushed, because compliments were hard to respond to. 

“Well, bye.” Cyrus said, hopping down the steps in front of TJ’s house, and beginning to walk away. TJ sighed, watching his retreating back, and started to close the door. 

Cyrus had gotten a good bit down the sidewalk leading to TJ’s house, holding on tightly to the bag he had slung over his shoulder, and TJ was still watching him, absentmindedly, because he was stuck in his own mind. Cyrus glanced back at the small house where the Kippen family lived one last time, and locked eyes with TJ. 

TJ felt a little twinge in his heart, and then the door finally closed. 

TJ brought the box over to the Christmas tree, and set it underneath. Only then did he realise he’d been standing in the doorway, in his pajamas, allowing the freezing air to coat him, and now he was shivering. 

Amber and their dad were in a deep conversation (TJ was pretty sure he heard something about the live action  _ Last Airbender _ movie from 2010), and only seemed to remember TJ when he sat down on the couch next to Amber, hands stuffed all the way into his pockets. 

“You look cold.” Amber remarked, unhelpfully. 

“Yeah, I know.” TJ responded. 

Their father stood up and rushed to a closet to grab a blanket, which TJ accepted gratefully and wrapped around himself. “Who was at the door who kept you there for at _ least _ 5 minutes?”

“Cyrus. He brought a gift.” TJ said, finally warm enough to take his hands out of his pockets. 

His dad nodded, and then announced, “I think we’ve talked enough, then. Gifts?” 

“Gifts!” Amber cheered, as if she was a child. That made TJ smile. 

He nodded, and said, after sniffling, “Gifts.”

Amber went to grab all of the gifts from under the tree, and lay them out on their coffee table, because they’d stopped being bothered to sit near the Christmas tree a few years ago (it got cramped). 

“You go first, Dad.” TJ said. 

TJ had gotten a sweater with a drawing of a dog on it for his father, and it was simple, but Mr. Kippen was the biggest dog person in a five mile radius. Amber had gotten him a small chalkboard, that would fit right on the wall of kitchen. He had a habit of leaving to-do lists for them when he left the house, and this would make it so that he didn’t waste all the notebook paper they owned. 

Amber got a bunch of things, mostly small trinkets from her friends, but TJ had gotten her a pencil case that you could clip onto your bag, because she always managed to lose hers. Their father got her a necklace with a dolphin pendant, and again, little trinkets, but she liked them. 

TJ’s dad had given him an old newsboy hat, which really did look better on Amber, and Amber had gotten him a WORLD’S OKAYEST BROTHER shirt, which he appreciated, because he always needed a new shirt. 

And, finally, there was the gift Cyrus had gotten him. He opened the box carefully, and revealed, on the top, a bundle of cloth with the words _ for Amber _ written on them. TJ handed that to Amber, who was grinning, but TJ was looking down into the box, where two things were left. First, he lifted out a varsity jacket, which was the third clothing present he’d received (did people have a problem with his wardrobe?), but this one was a little bit more interesting than the other clothing he’d gotten, because it had patches sewn into the sleeves. It wasn’t school-specific or anything, but it did have a patch on it with a T, plus a basketball patch, and there was something so personal about it. He made a mental note to wear it the next time he went out. 

Finally, there was a DVD in the box. He picked it up, and turned it over.  _ Cinema Paradiso _ (1998) with English subtitles. He felt himself grinning. It was one of the only movies he’d found himself that drawn to, of all the ones he’d seen with Cyrus. They’d had one of the best times watching it, and it was such a fond memory. Having something solid that he could look at and remember that time with somehow just made it feel real, and solid, and special. 

They closed the box, and started to clean up all the wrapping and boxes (Amber wanted to keep some of the boxes, because her miniature things needed to be organised), and they enjoyed Christmas as a family. A small, rowdy family, but a family nonetheless. 

 


End file.
